KUALA LUMPUR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is expected to learn tomorrow what exactly transpired when the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) final audit report was altered to ultimately conceal some damning information.
It hopes former auditor general Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, the chief of the National Audit Department who signed off on the document, will reveal salient details on who ordered the changes to be made, and who made them.
His successor, Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad, who had revealed the alterations in recent days and indicated that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak knew that critical parts of the report were redacted, will be next to stand before the PAC to share more information she had been privy to since she assumed office.
Ambrin told the New Straits Times that he was ready to “tell the whole story on Dec 4”.
The NST asked Ambrin if he would want to clarify his alleged involvement in the alterations as his credibility and integrity had been called into serious question.
Ambrin, who is currently chairing a committee under the Finance Ministry to investigate the governance, procurement and finance in ministries and agencies, said: “I know that. I will explain everything. Let them judge me after that”.
As part of his responsibilities as chair of the committee, Ambrin and the rest of the seven-member panel are looking into, among others, previous procurements and projects by the Defence Ministry.
For the record, Ambrin had in October said he stood by the final 1MDB report and denied that alterations had been made to the document. He was quoted as saying, “Nothing was changed”.
He went on to say that the document was then under his full control. He also articulated his exasperation when his earlier scheduled appearance before the PAC was postponed, saying he should have been given the platform to give his side of the story.
The PAC, which had set out its terms of reference for its proceedings on the 1MDB scandal, has now directed its focus on the alterations done to the report which was then finalised and presented to the PAC on March 4, 2016.
Madinah had said that two crucial omissions were made to the report – one on the presence of businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, at a meeting of the 1MDB board of directors, and the other, on the financial status of 1MDB.
Madinah said the directive to make the changes had come from Najib’s former principal private secretary, Tan Sri Shukry Salleh, on Feb 26, 2016, on the grounds that it was a sensitive issue and that it was to prevent the disclosure from “being manipulated by the then political opposition”.
Both Ambrin and Shukry have been called up by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to facilitate investigations under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009, which deals with abuse of power.
The original 1MDB final audit report, without the amendments and removal of critical paragraphs, had been handed over to the MACC and the police for their action.
Police are also investigating the matter.
Madinah said on Feb 20, 2016, Shukry had asked the Audit Department to present the final audit report on 1MDB to then prime minister Najib, for further discussion.
At a meeting with Najib on Feb 22, 2016, at the Prime Minister’s Office, he (Najib) ordered the deletion of the paragraphs in relation to the two versions of the 1MDB Financial Statement for the year ended 2014, and ordered an investigation by the enforcement authorities, said Madinah, adding that former chief secretary to the government, Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa, Shukry and Ambrin attended the meeting.
As such, the presentation of the report to the PAC, scheduled for Feb 24, 2016, was postponed to March 4 and 7, 2016, she said.
On Feb 23, 2016, the 1MDB audit team was informed that the government had categorised the 1MDB final audit report as a crisis, she said.
A meeting on Feb 24, 2016, attended by Ali, Shukry, Ambrin and the then 1MDB group president and chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy, as well as representatives of the AG Chambers and Finance Ministry, discussed several other paragraphs in the report and issued directives for their removal or amendment, she said.
On Feb 25, 2016, Ali instructed the 1MDB audit team to attend a meeting at his office, along with Arul Kanda, to further discuss the 1MDB final audit report, she said.
“That meeting was to further discuss the report, where several other findings were removed or amended,” she added.
In the afternoon of the same day, she said, Ali, Ambrin, Arul Kanda, the former audit director and three other officers, continued with the discussion of the report.
Madinah said Shukry ordered the former audit director to remove a paragraph which proved that Jho Low had attended a meeting of the 1MDB board of directors.
She said on Feb 28, 2016, the 1MDB final audit report was amended to exclude Jho Low’s attendance at the 1MDB board meeting. The amended document was submitted to Ali for further action.
On March 1, 2016, Ali again summoned the audit team to his office to discuss the report, she added.
Madinah said at the session, only Ali and Arul Kanda were present to review the report in detail with the audit team. Additional instructions were given for more changes (omissions/amendments) to be made to the report.
For the record, Arul Kanda had ignored the NST’s request for comments.
Madinah said on March 2, 2016, the 1MDB final audit report was printed, and on March 3, 2016, Ali handed two copies of the report to Shukry.
On March 4 and 7, 2016, Ambrin presented the 1MDB final audit report to the PAC, she said.
The PAC is also expected to call in Najib and Arul Kanda, as well as several others, including officers with the Audit Department.
Once the PAC proceedings are concluded, the committee is expected to give recommendations to Parliament on the next course of action.
The PAC had said the preliminary report containing information on those behind the alleged tampering of the final 1MDB report would be tabled by March or April.